Lunging in for a tackle, senior Varsity football safety Shane Pettke was knocked off his feet by a Dakota opponent. His head hit the ground─ hard─ giving him a concussion.

“When I got the concussion, I felt really dizzy and my eyes were all blurry and I didn’t know where I was,” Pettke said.

Pettke was sent to the hospital after and doctors took a CT scan of his brain. With a bruise on his brain, the doctor was able to confirm the concussion and sent him home with instructions for his parents to observe him. Once Pettke was symptom free for seven days he was able to return to football.

Other are not as lucky as Pettke. If blood vessels are ruptured when someone hits their head, bleeding within the skull may occur, which can lead to the death of the individual, according to Dr. Ernestia Mac of the Pediatric Consultants of Troy.

“Concussions can also affect an individual later on in life. If the tissues of the brain are scarred when one gets a concussion, that person may be more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s,” Mac said.

Some symptoms are harder to identify than others. Recently, doctors became more aware of the minor symptoms of concussions and new methods were developed to properly treat young people, according to Athletic Trainer Philip Crum.

“For the protection of young people, the state is forcing schools and youth organizations to take concussions more serious, passing Public Act 342 and 343. These acts require organizations to have someone on hand who is trained to be able to properly access concussions. They also require each student and their parents to sign a concussion form for the school to keep on record,” Crum said.

The Utica district took extra steps to ensure the safety and undisturbed recovery of its sports players by purchasing a cognitive testing system. The Impact Test checks student athletes’ brains before an injury and constructs a baseline reading. If assessed after an injury and the new reading is different, the student must stop playing sports for a varying amount of time. Once their brain is healed and they meet their baseline reading again, athletes can return to play.